Six Mutants and A Shock Pen
by TMI
Summary: Gazzy buys a shock pen. And decides to improve it, with Iggy's help. How will the flock manage to survive? And what happens when a bird kid runs out of batteries?
1. Getting the Goods

Gazzy slipped away from the flock, weaving himself into the crowd. He wasn't aware of the fact that a certain tall blonde mutant was following him. Gazzy was too focused on his mission. He looked around fervently, hoping to see a landmark that would guide him to what he needed to buy. There! Gazzy spotted the sign, and hurried up the little stone steps to the shop, pushing open the door. He rushed inside, not noticing that his friend had followed him in. Gazzy hurried over to the counter, pushing a wisp of stray blonde hair out of his face, and clenching his wings in tightly to his back. He rang a little bell sitting on the counter. A tall, black-haired man walked out from a door behind the counter, and peered at the tall eight-year-old standing there, a secretive look in his blue eyes. "How can I help ye?" He asked gruffly, bending down to pick up a box below.

"I'd like to purchase-" Gazzy leaned in and whispered his product in the man's ear. His tall friend strained his genetically enhanced hearing, but couldn't catch his fellow pyromaniac's words. The man behind the counter nodded, and shuffled off behind the counter to get Gazzy's item. Gazzy, looking triumphant, started pulling a small Spiderman wallet out of his jeans pocket. When the man came back, Gazzy slipped him a five-dollar-bill, and received a brown-papered parcel. "Thank you, my good sir," Gazzy told him. The man shrugged and started cleaning the counter with a wet cloth. Gazzy turned and strode away, failing to notice his friend tucked into the shadows in the corner of the shop. The taller boy followed him out, and trailed the sound of paper rustling, along with the minute sounds of Gazzy's feathers shifting. Hearing his footsteps stop, the almost-stalker halted too, before walking slowly up and peering over Gazzy's shoulder, pretending to look inside the bag.

"What've you got there, Gaz?" he asked.

"Iggy!" Gazzy gasped. "Hi, umm, wow, this is awkward…"

"Stop stalling and tell me what you bought, Gasman," Iggy ordered him. Gazzy's head drooped.

"Promise you won't tell the rest of the flock? I want to surprise them!" Gazzy almost used his Bambi eyes, before remembering they wouldn't work on Iggy.

"No, of course not." Iggy waved his hand impatiently. "Just tell me the contents of your package."

"The contents of your package?"Gazzy sniggered. "You've been reading too much Harry Potter, Igs."

"You're stalling again."

"Fine. Okay, here it is." Gazzy pulled out one of the items in his package. Iggy grasped it, running his fingers over the sides.

"A pen? Why all the secrecy?" Iggy asked. For indeed, in Iggy's hands sat a nondescript, black and silver pen.

"Click the pen," Gazzy suggested. Iggy frowned slightly at his friend's behavior, but clicked the pen. Immediately, an electric shock traveled through his fingers. Iggy almost dropped the pen.

"Yowch!" Iggy gasped. "You little- you bought a shock pen!"

"No just _a _shock pen, but _six _shock pens!" Gazzy revealed happily. Iggy stared in Gazzy's direction.

"Why?" he asked finally. Gazzy wiggled excitedly, here came the best part!

"I figured that the shock would be really wimpy, you know, as a joke for regular humans. But, if we take them apart and rewire them, maybe we could make them give off a really strong shock, like for a weapon or something!" Gazzy bounced up and down, as Iggy's jaw dropped. "What do you think?"

"I think you are a devious little bird-kid. Let's do it!" Iggy decided, an evil grin lighting up his pale face. "The thing is, we can't tell Max and Fang yet."

"Yeah, they might not like the idea of super shock pens," Gazzy agreed. The two friends strolled off down the street, heading towards the tree grove where Max had instructed them to go to if they got separated from the rest of the flock.

"Try to look scared and upset," Iggy advised his younger friend. "Then maybe Max won't be so mad about us leaving."

"How about this?" Gazzy contorted his face into a woebegone, sad little image, complete with too-bright eyes. "Max, Max, it was so scary! Erasers came, and they tried to take me away, there were eight of them! Then Iggy came and saved me, and we rushed back as soon as we could!" Gazzy whimpered, sniffling slightly. His face brightened again. "I'm hungry," he whispered sadly. Iggy clapped him on the back.

"Perfection, Gaz! Absolute perfection! You should be on Broadway someday," Iggy told him. Gazzy smirked.

"Yeah, that'll be the day. Bird Kids performing live on Broadway, _The Music Man_!" Gazzy mimicked the voice of a game show host. Iggy laughed, and the two friends ran off down the street, clutching their little package of evil condensed in pen form.

**Nudge: … little package of evil condensed in pen form?  
Believe me, that is the definition of a shock pen.**

**Nudge: alrighty then…. –backs away from TMI-**

**Hey! That's not very nice. Okay, by the way people, I was informed by one of my favorite authors about a certain Project PULL, started by another author. So I figured that I would update sooner. Unfortunately for my Race for the Cure and Max's Special Powers and Flock plus Carnival equals Catastrophe and Flock vs ATM readers, the update came in the form of this story. It was inspired by soccer practice last night, when my coach's daughter kept running around and shocking people with her shock pen.**

**Sooooooooo, review please? I love to read them, and will most likely put you in the AN of the next chapter.**

**Gazzy: bribery, eh?**

**You shouldn't talk.**

**Gazzy: … true…**

**~TMI~**


	2. Fang's Lasagna and Plan 42

**I'm sorry to the people who like this story, but I'm just warning you, this is the last on my list for updating, just because I just have more demand for other stories. Sorry! But here's a chapter to tide my few readers for this story over. And thanks to my reviewers The Seagull, Dark Skitty Power, Salute the Horses (yes Alex I figured out that anonymous reviewer was you XD) Call Me Bitter (Thank you for your awesome reviews! I really appreciate them!) and AmyQueen95. Thank you! I lovests you guys in a non-creepy way!**

**Gazzy: Start the story! I want to play with my shock pen!**

Iggy and Gazzy stumbled into camp, tired expressions on their faces and dirt caked in their fair hair. Nudge rushed forward when she saw them, a worried look on her face. "ZOMG what happened to you guys? Did you get attacked or something that would totally suck! I'll go tell Max now so she can help you guys out!" Nudge scurried back through the trees, looking for their leader. Iggy grinned suddenly at Gazzy, his previously exhausted expression replaced with mischief, sparkles forming in his pale blue eyes.

"I'm guessing we look convincing then?" he whispered to Gazzy, walking with a slight limp as they followed Nudge further into the forest.

Gazzy grinned back quickly before pasting on another tired look onto his dirty countenance. "Yep. We look like we were dragged through a mud patch," Gazzy confirmed. Iggy cackled quietly, but swiftly changed his expression back into its mask of pain, starting to accentuate his limp more.

"Watch out. Max alert," he murmured to his younger companion. Gazzy shifted the package in his sweatshirt pocket, making sure there wasn't a visible lump to give away his beloved purchase. Soon, Max burst through the trees, a worried look in her eyes and Nudge right beside her, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet with valiantly-contained energy. Max stopped, skidding on the thick layer of leaves spread across the forest floor. She scrutinized the boys, who were continuing to walk forward to their camp.

"What happened to you guys?" Max asked, an eyebrow raised as she looked them over. Iggy coughed, and Gazzy lifted his tired blue gaze to meet Max's doubtful one.

"We went out for a walk, trying to see if we could find some candy anywhere, since we don't have a ton of sweet food here," Gazzy began, a faraway look in his eyes. "So then we walked into this clearing, and at least fifteen Erasers jumped us. It was awful! Iggy took out a couple with some firecrackers he had in his pockets, and I beat up a few too, but there were just too many. We finally took off, trying to fly away, but they had wings too, and followed us. Finally, we managed to slam most of them into roofs of buildings, and we came back here as soon as possible. Sorry we took so long, Max," Gazzy apologized, looking down again. Max listened to him avidly while he was telling the story, but there was no emotion in her eyes as she wondered whether or not to believe Gazzy's tale.

"Alright," she finally decided. "But if there's Erasers nearby, we should probably leave first thing tomorrow. Nudge, can you tell Angel when we get in there?" Max asked her. Nudge nodded, bounding ahead in her excitement.

They were almost at the borders of the camp when Gazzy stumbled over a root. He managed to catch himself, but the white bag containing the shock pens fell out of his pocket and onto the ground, scattering a few on the fallen foliage. Max stopped, staring at the pens as Gazzy scrambled to pick them up.

"Why do you have a bag of pens in your pocket?" Max asked suspiciously. Gazzy shrugged.

"They were on sale when we were walking back. I figured we could use them somehow," Gazzy fibbed swiftly, trying not to look guilty. Iggy quickly backed him up, helping Gazzy to his feet again once he gathered all the shock pens up again.

"Right. You never know when you're going to need a pen. Besides, my favorite one just ran out of ink." Iggy shook his head sadly. "It had so much potential!"

Max rolled her eyes. "Jeez guys, you're such drama queens! Well, come on. Fang's chef tonight, since you didn't come back soon enough, Igs," Max warned them. "Let's hope what he makes isn't too poisonous."

"I heard that," Fang's voice called out from the clearing they had their camp in. Max smirked at the sound, turning to enter the camp. Iggy and Gazzy sighed, happy that their plan wasn't discovered before they could even start it. Nudge pushed past them, running over to where Angel was sitting with Total, pulling a magazine from her backpack to share with the younger girl. Suddenly, Max turned around to face Iggy and Gazzy again as they stepped into the range of the firelight.

"Hey Gaz, can I have a pen? I threw mine at Fang and he never gave it back," she complained, shooting a look at the bird kid in question. Fang smirked back at her from his perch on a log by the fire.

"You chose to throw it at me, it's my ammunition now," he reasoned. Max scowled, but he just shrugged and turned back to the food.

"See what I mean?" Max looked back at Gazzy. His mind was working quickly, trying to figure out how to get out of this with all of his pens.

"Sure, Max," Iggy told her. "Gaz, give me the bag. We can spare a pen." Gazzy shot a look at the older boy, but Iggy just held out his hand for the bag. Gazzy sighed mentally, handing Iggy the parcel. Iggy fished around in the bag, pulling out one of the black and silver pens. He felt for the top, then clicked the pen open. His face didn't hold any sign of emotion as Gazzy watched, sure he was going to give away a sign of the shock running through his finger. "Here, Max." Iggy handed the pen to her.

"Thanks Ig, thanks Gazzy," she told them, walking to the fire to put it in her backpack. Gazzy turned to Iggy, a look of respect on his face.

"Iggy, didn't that hurt?" he asked incredulously. Iggy cracked a secretive grin, leaning down to Gazzy's height.

"They don't have batteries yet, Gaz," he whispered. Realization dawned on the younger boy, and he grinned back at Iggy.

"Nice! I didn't think of that," he congratulated Iggy. Suddenly, Gazzy frowned. "But wait, won't it not write or anything? Shock pens don't have ink, do they?" Iggy shook his head.

"Most shock pens don't actually have ink, but the particular brand you bought do. I felt the logo printed in raised letters on the side of the pen, and realized that you bought the type that has shock _and _ink. Nifty, right?" Gazzy grinned.

"Really nifty, Igs," Gaz agreed. Suddenly, Fang donned a massive oven mitt, pulling a pan covered with tinfoil out of the fire.

"Dinner's ready!" he announced, placing the pan down on a flat rock. The flock gathered around him, watching cautiously as he lifted the tinfoil off, crumpling it into a ball and tossing it aside. Silence reigned, broken only by the crackle of the fire as they stared at Fang's creation.

"What is it?" Iggy asked impatiently.

"Fang made something… edible," Max whispered, still in awe as she gazed at the contents of the pan. Fang smirked, pulling off the oven mitt and tossing it back into Iggy's bag where he had 'borrowed' it from.

"Hot tamale, that actually looks good!" Total exclaimed, wagging his tail from his perch in Angel's arms. "When can we eat?"

"Right now," Fang replied, pulling a long, thin box out of Iggy's bag. He extracted a knife from it, and proceeded to cut the lasagna into seven large slices. The pan was really big, so each slice was big enough to satisfy one hungry bird kid. Fang took a paper plate off of a stack, digging into the lasagna and pulling out a large, steamy slice. Gazzy's mouth watered as he looked at it, slowly dripping thick drops of tomato sauce back into the pan as Fang guided the knife supporting it onto the paper plate. He slid the knife out from under the food, and handed the plate to Max. She smiled at him in return as he gave her a fork.

"Thanks Fang," she told him softly, a smile in her eyes. Fang flashed one of his rare all-out grins at her, watching as she cut into the lasagna with her fork. She closed her eyes as she lifted the chunk of noodles, meat and sauce to her lips. The whole flock watched as she popped it in her mouth, chewing slowly, then swallowing. Max opened her eyes again, looked solemnly at a slightly-nervous Fang, and grinned widely. "Jeez, Fang! This is amazing lasagna! Iggy, you got competition," she warned the blind chef, smiling at Fang. The flock burst into wider grins, giggling at the look on Iggy's face. Fang divvied out the rest of the lasagna, and the flock ate rapturously.

Nudge stared at the lasagna with a look of indecision on her face. Fang noticed her expression, and sidled over to where she sat. "What's wrong Nudge? Do you not like it?" he asked quietly. Nudge's eyes widened as she stared at him.

"No no no, I haven't even tried it yet! I'm sure it's delicious though, Fang, since everyone seems to be enjoying it so much," Nudge assured him, waving her arm around at the rest of the flock. They were all eating huge bites of lasagna, varied expressions of bliss on their faces. Fang smirked, and Nudge continued. "The thing is, I'm supposed to be vegetarian now, but it looks so good that I'm really tempted and all…" Nudge trailed off, staring at her lasagna again. Fang nodded, understanding her indecision.

"You don't have to eat it, Nudge," he reminded her.

"I know, but I'm so hungry, and it smells so good, and-" she broke off suddenly, a defiant look on her face. "You know what?"

"What?" Fang asked.

"I'm going to eat this, and I'm going to enjoy it. I'll be vegetarian again later!" she declared, digging her fork into the lasagna. She closed her eyes and lifted the fork to her lips, eating the whole forkful in one bite. "Mmmm…" she murmured, chewing the food. Fang smiled, getting up and going to eat his own food. He felt proud of his achievement as substitute cook for Iggy.

*&^%$#!

"When can we start with the experiment?" Gazzy whispered to Iggy as they ate. He patted the bag of pens in his pocket, making sure they were still there. Gazzy was far more cautious with his package now after the fiasco when he fell.

"We can probably start tomorrow," Iggy replied, shoveling more forkfuls of lasagna into his mouth. "We should get Fang to cook more often! I'm enjoying this," he added, chewing blissfully.

Gazzy grinned, taking another bite of his own lasagna. "I know! Fang's been hiding his cooking talents from us for too long. You guys should host a cooking show or something, make all these awesome dishes and then the flock can come on and eat it all!" Gazzy closed his eyes in delight, thinking about his idea as he ate more lasagna. "We can call it the Fang and Iggy Show!"

Iggy shook his head, swallowing the lasagna before objecting. "No no no, you've got it all wrong. It should be the Iggy and Fang Show! Imagine it!" Gazzy grinned at his friend.

Suddenly, a worrying thought occurred to the young bird kid. "Iggy? You know how you said that the shock pens didn't have batteries?" Iggy nodded, still enjoying his lasagna. "Well, how are we going to get some if we're leaving first thing tomorrow morning?" Gazzy asked. Iggy stopped chewing, a troubled expression in his sightless eyes.

"I hadn't thought of that, Gazzy. Good point. Well, we're just going to have to take desperate measures." Iggy stood up with his empty plate, walking over and tossing it into the fire. Gazzy leaped up after him, his blue eyes wide.

"You aren't thinking of… " Gazzy trailed off, excitement sparking in his chest as he remembered the last time they had used that plan…

"Oh yes, I'm thinking of Plan 42," Iggy confirmed, a mischievous smile lighting up his face. Gazzy grinned in return, thinking happily of their last results.

"We'll definitely get enough energy from Plan 42 to power a few shock pens. But what will we do with the excess power?" he asked worriedly. "I don't really want Max to yell at us for blowing up another-"

"Yes yes, I remember," Iggy interrupted him quickly. Some memories were better left alone. "We'll just supercharge the pens! Remember the plan? We need them extra powerful anyway," Iggy reasoned. Gazzy nodded at his logic, a mischievous smirk on his face.

Nudge looked over at where the two boys were plotting. "I wonder what they're going to do now," she mused to Angel. The blond girl looked up at Nudge, a happy smile on her face.

"I don't know, they've got up mind blocks to protect them from me. But look what I did!" Angel pointed proudly at Total, sitting unhappily on the dirt. Nudge burst out into a fit of giggles as she spotted him.

"Angel! You painted Total's nails purple again?" Nudge giggled. Angel nodded happily.

"Isn't he _beautiful?_" she sighed, gazing at his sparkly violet nails. Total grunted standing up.

"I'm telling Max!" he complained, trotting over to the leader. Angel and Nudge slapped high fives, grinning as Total flew up onto Max's lap and unleashed a torrent of complaints about his nail polish. Max quickly stifled a laugh, pasting a serious expression on her face.

"Angel?" she called out to the little girl. "Why did you paint Total's nails sparkly purple?" Max asked sternly. Angel smiled at her.

"Because they make him look glamorous!" she explained, screwing the lid back on the bottle. "Do you want me to do Fang's nails too?" Angel looked hopefully at Fang, who was sitting, motionless, next to Max.

"No." His voice rang out clearly, no emotion in his tone. Angel, Nudge and Max burst out laughing at the look on his face. Total gazed at him mournfully from Max's lap.

"I feel your pain," Fang told him solemnly. Total nodded, curling up in a ball.

"I am officially banished from the Man Universe," he whimpered, tucking his tail over his nose and closing his eyes. Fang grinned suddenly as he looked at the pathetic mutant.

"Well, I'm sure the Girl Universe will be delighted to have you," Fang snickered. Total sat up, glaring at Fang.

"Not cool! Not cool at all!" he wailed, jumping up and trying to scratch Fang with a pawful of his sparkly purple nails. Fang dodged, jumping up and running around to hide behind Max. She laughed, watching as Total chased Fang all around the clearing, finally managing to jump on his head.

"Fight! Fight! Fight!" Nudge and Angel cheered, watching the display avidly.

Iggy and Gazzy looked up from where they were gathering ingredients for Plan 42. Iggy shook his head. "They're so immature," he tsked, sprinkling powdered peanuts into the glass bowl. Gazzy nodded sagely as he added shredded fibers of Max's jeans.

"Completely immature," Gazzy agreed. "They're cheering on a mutant dog with sparkly purple nail polish as he chases an emo mutant around a campsite. All _we're _doing is creating an extremely potent and dangerous concoction known as Plan 42 so we can have ultra shock pens."

"Exactly!" Iggy exclaimed. "Hey Gaz, can you go snitch Nudge's mascara? We need a few drops of it now." Gazzy nodded, slinking around the clearing and stealthily pulling a pink tube out of Nudge's backpack while she was watching Total flail his sparkly violet nails at Fang's head. Gazzy ran back over to Iggy, uncapping the mascara as he did so. They dripped exactly six drops of the black liquid off the brush and into the black bowl. It steamed slightly as they made contact with the rest of the mixture, and Gazzy cackled evilly.

"We are soooo going to get in trouble with Max!" Gazzy remembered the last time they had blown up Max's jeans, smiling at the memory.

"Yeah. But it's all in the name of super shock pens! Remember that, Gasman!" Iggy declared, slamming his fist down on the rock where they were working. Gazzy snickered, dropping in a few more choice ingredients, watching them bubble ominously.

"Almost done," he whispered, adding in half of a diced carrot. "Almost done."

**Reviews are welcomed. (:**

**~TMI~**


	3. AN

Hey Peoples, I'm so sorry I've been MIA.

REPENT.

It's not entirely my fault. You see, soon after New Years-

Nudge: And that New Years Resolution you made that raised everyone's hopes about you updating quicker-

I said I was sorry! Anyway, my computer totally and utterly DIED. And I had half of the next iPod Screen chappie typed up, all of the next chapter for two other stories, the ideas for School Days and Erasing Lissa, and the beginnings of the next chapter for ATM Wars and Race for the Cure. So yeah, I need to figure out how to raise my laptop from the dead. Then, I will update EVERYTHING in a major spree! But just saying, I procrastinated on writing this A/N 'cause I hate writing them, and there are some stories where this will be the second A/N, which I HATE. I'm so sorry you guys. Please forgive me.

Angel: She's banging her head against the wall.

Gazzy: Poor TMI…. –eats cookies-

HEY! That was MY cookie! –tackles Gazzy-

…

This is Nudge writing. TMI is wrestling with Gazzy over the last cookie now. So yeah, this note was typed on TMI's mother's computer, but the lady won't let her write whole chapters 'cause it takes too long and TMI's little brother-

Angel: She calls him Shortso. XP

-needs to type up his project. So yeah! Byezas!

Angel? Will you do the honors?

Angel: SURE! So sorry about the inconvenience people, TMI is beating herself up about disappointing you guys…. Now to write her signature thingymacdoodle!

~TMI~


	4. The Break in

**SUMMAH TIME! Yay! I will be hopefully updating at least one story per week for the summer. THAT IS MY GOAL! Yay!**

"Gazzy!" A pair of calloused hands shook Gazzy roughly, waking him up from his sound sleep. "Gazzy! Wake up!"

"Whu happun?" Gazzy slurred sleepily, not fully out of his hibernation state.

"Gazzy, the rest of the flock is gonna wake up soon," the voice whispered urgently. "We need to get the last few ingredients for Plan 42 before they get up."

Gazzy squinted blearily at the speaker, who turned out to be none other than Iggy. Of course, who else would know about Plan 42 anyway? "Iggy?" he croaked quietly, rubbing his eyes. "What do we need?"

"Well, we've already gathered the mascara, carrot, peanuts, olive oil, lighter fluid, banana peel..." Iggy's voice was very soothing as he rattled off the list of ingredients used to create the mixture known as Plan 42. Gazzy's eyelids fluttered as he listened to the steady drone of ingredients. Eventually, his blond head drifted slowly back onto his backpack, which was serving him as a makeshift pillow. Within seconds, Gazzy was asleep again.

"-And the shreds of Max's jeans. So now we just have to get the raisinettes, nail polish remover, peanut butter, copper ore, and steel cable. Oh, and a dash of iron filings and lemon juice wouldn't hurt either, it made quite an explosion last time. What do you think, Gasser?" Iggy asked enthusiastically. He didn't mind waking up early if it meant continuing their discussion on Plan 42.

Strangely, Gazzy did not answer Iggy's question immediately. Iggy waited a few seconds while his younger friend weighed the important decision. He was no doubt deeply thinking about the addition of lemon juice and iron filings to Plan 42. Iggy waited a bit longer, patiently allowing Gazzy to continue his intense analysis on the subject. "I know, it's really intense, right?" Iggy prompted in a whisper.

Gazzy snored gently in reply.

"Gasman!" Iggy scolded, shaking his young friend's shoulders. Gazzy's head bobbed back and forth, and his eyes wrenched their way open again.

"Whu happun?" he mumbled, squinting at Iggy.

Iggy sighed. "Talk about dèjá vu," he muttered. Impatiently, Iggy swung Gazzy up around his shoulders in a fireman's carry. It would save time if he just carried the boy out of their campsite before waking him up more thoroughly. Gazzy's wings tumbled recklessly down off his back in a waterfall of white and gray feathers, giving Iggy another coat to wear over his blue hoody. Iggy sighed again, adjusting his grip on Gazzy as he leaned down to pick up the mixing bowl full of the half-finished Plan 42. Then, soundlessly, the terrible duo padded out of the campsite.

It was three thirty in the morning.

XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD

"Remind me again why we came out here so early?" Gazzy yawned, rubbing his eyes yet again. Wordlessly, Iggy handed him a thermos full of coffee. Gazzy's eyes snapped open as he grabbed the hot container, sipping greedily at the steaming brown brew. "Coffee..." Gazzy murmured in ecstasy, taking another scalding gulp. He didn't seem to mind the burns that were destined to form in his throat and on his tongue. Gazzy just enjoyed the coffee. Max seemed to have a hesitance towards letting him and Nudge have coffee, but Iggy didn't care. That was one of the many reasons Gazzy considered Iggy to be his best friend.

"Well, my young mutant." Iggy began, pacing in front of Gazzy. "We needed to get our materials before Max woke up. I managed to convince Total to keep watch for a couple hours so we could go do some special errands. However, we have to bring him a pound of bacon when we get back."

"Of course," Gazzy mumbled, sipping eagerly at his coffee.

"So we have free reign to break into a few stores and recover some of the materials we need," Iggy concluded. He rubbed his hands together in anticipation.

"Question," Gazzy said suddenly, stifling another yawn. He rubbed his eyes again, trying to wake up more. In the face of danger, Gazzy could be awake and alert in a moment. However, right now there was no sense of urgency, and Gazzy felt like there was about a million pounds of bricks weighing down his eyelids.

"Yes, Gaz?" Iggy prompted after a moment of silence.

"If we're going into a shop to get stuff, why don't we just take some batteries while we're there?" Gazzy pointed out reasonably.

Iggy was silent for a minute. That thought had definitely not occurred to him before. "Well..." Iggy started, thinking the question over. "We already have Plan 42 half-finished anyway, so we should just use it. Plus, it's more fun to use Plan 42 than regular batteries." Iggy thought for another minute. "Anyway, we need the pens super-charged, which wouldn't happen with normal batteries."

"Point taken," Gazzy agreed, yawning yet again. "So let's-" Gazzy yawned. "-let's go," he mumbled.

Iggy smirked at Gazzy's sleepiness. It was cute, in a little-boy way. Of course, he couldn't ever tell him that. Gaz would be horribly offended.

Fifteen minutes later saw the duo loitering suspiciously outside of a grocery store. They had their hands shoved in the pockets of their thick, bulky windbreakers, and had sweet, innocent expressions on their face.

Any cop worth their donuts should have had them handcuffed in a second. However, luck was on the miscreants' side, for no law-abiding citizen was awake to turn them in, nor was there a cop car in sight. Gazzy deftly shimmied up a support column in the front, and with the help of a pair of tweezers and some of Nudge's concealer, the security camera was disabled in twenty three seconds. Iggy was busily picking the lock on one of the store windows, and let out a quiet whoop when the lock jangled off and fell to the ground below. "We're in, Gaz," Iggy called softly. Gazzy cackled wickedly, sliding down the column and racing over to the window Iggy had opened.

Iggy was already inside by the time Gazzy wriggled in through the window, running his fingers over various shelves in search of the things they needed. "Igs," Gazzy whispered. "The inside cameras are off, so we're good. Why don't I go look for the stuff? You wait here."

"It's 'cause I'm blind, isn't it?" Iggy sniffed mournfully.

Gazzy snickered in reply. "Yep," he said gleefully. "Now wait a minute while I go secure the goods."

Gazzy scampered off among the aisles, leaving Iggy leaning against the wall. Iggy smirked. "Secure the goods," he murmured, thinking aloud. "Jeez, Gaz is getting more like me everyday. Max will be thrilled."

Gazzy popped in and out of various aisles, peering around the dark store. It was somewhat strange to be in the store this early in the morning, and even stranger to see darkness shrouding every shelf. However, Gazzy's raptor vision allowed him to see around the store without any trouble. In no time Gazzy had procured the final items the duo needed for Plan 42, and he ran back through the store to where Iggy was waiting for him.

"Mission accomplished," Gazzy hissed to Iggy, slapping him a high-five. Iggy grinned at him.

"Excellent," he purred, rubbing his hands together evilly. Gazzy laughed, finally overcoming his sleepiness.

"Let's go," Gazzy whispered, jumping up to the windowsill and scrambling out. He dropped silently to the ground underneath the window, and moved out of the way so Iggy could climb out. They unfurled their wings and jumped up into the sky, depending on their internal compasses to lead them back to the campsite.

When they finally stumbled back into the campsite, Total jumped up from his perch on a large rock in the middle. "Guys!" he hissed. "You're back! Did you bring me my bacon?"

"Yeah, we did," Iggy told him, smiling. "Gaz?"

Gazzy ripped open the package of bacon and tossed it to Total. "Yes!" Total scrambled up to catch the bacon in his teeth. Slowly, he dragged the heavy parcel over to where Angel was curled up, asleep. "Thanks," Total mumbled, preoccupied with his bacon.

"No prob," Gazzy assured him. "We also got some nail polish remover, if you want some."

"Thank you so much," Total replied solemnly. "I eternally worship you for your kindness."

Gazzy stifled a laugh as he ran over to Nudge's backpack. He plucked a couple cotton balls from the outside pocket, where he knew she stored them for beauty purposes. Turning back to Total, Gazzy dripped some nail polish remover onto the cotton and held out his hand. Total lifted his paw up into Gazzy's grasp, closing his eyes dramatically as Gazzy scrubbed away the glitter from his nails.

Meanwhile, Iggy was busy adding the last few ingredients to their mixing bowl full of Plan 42. He smiled in a somewhat sinister fashion as he plunked in the entire package of raisinettes, a generous dollop of crunchy peanut butter, and several squirts of lemon juice. "Yo Gaz, I need the remover now," he called. Gazzy nodded, still intent on scrubbing all traces of purple from Total's nails.

"Just a sec," he replied. "I'm almost done..."

Iggy sighed, crossing his arms over his chest and closing his eyes. An involuntary yawn crossed his lips, and he wondered what time it was. Whatever the time was, it was too early for Iggy.

"Done!" Gazzy announced, screwing the cap back onto the blue bottle of nail polish remover. "No trace of purple or glitter anywhere, Total."

"Thanks, Gazzy. I have been re-accepted into the Man Universe," Total sighed happily. He curled up into a ball next to Angel's head, blinked twice, and fell asleep.

Iggy yawned again. "Here Gaz, pass me the remover," Iggy repeated. Gazzy tossed the blue bottle haphazardly through the air to Iggy, who somehow managed to catch it. He unscrewed the lid, poured in half the bottle, and screwed the cap back on. "Here Gaz, put this in Nudge's bag or something."

"Sure. She'll be ecstatic to have more stuff than she woke up with," Gazzy replied, tucking the bottle into Nudge's backpack.

Iggy rubbed his sightless eyes and stumbled over to his sleeping place. He was tired from their early morning escapade, even if Gazzy wasn't, for some strange reason...

Gazzy was bouncing excitedly up and down, not seeming sleepy in the least. "Gaz," Iggy whispered, settling down next to Fang.

"Yeah Iggy?" Gazzy whispered back enthusiastically.

"Can you ke-" Iggy yawned. "keep watch until M-" he yawned again. "Max or Fang wakes u..."

Iggy was asleep.

Gazzy looked at Iggy reproachfully, shaking his blond head. "Tsk tsk," Gazzy said aloud. "Iggy should have drank some of my coffee." Gazzy took another swig from his steaming thermos of caffeine and settled down onto a log. With another look over the sleeping flock, Gazzy smiled over his coffee. He couldn't wait to unleash Plan 42. 

**~TMI~**


End file.
